58% of new sales hires don’t last 6 months with their new Employer.
A serious challenge to companies, due to wasted time & expense on training sales & damage that can be caused to Customer relationships.
It all begins with the quality of the interview process.
An effective interview should:
- dig into the Candidates skills, knowledge, experience, personality & motivation.
- reveal whether they’ll be a good fit for the role, the company’s culture & business objectives.
Here are questions to ask to meet the 4 core sales skills your new Sales Professional will need to possess to become a super star in your business
Section 1: self-organizational skills
questions to ask
- How do you keep up to date on your target market?
Ask for a recent piece of information they’ve learned from one of the publications within their current industry, even different to yours. It will indicate their commitment to finding out & keeping up with relevant trade publications & blogs.
- Can you explain how you approached your sales process to me?
This will indicate how effectively the Candidate can walk someone through a concept or process.
Look out for how clearly & concisely they can explain the topic.
- 3. How much time did you spend on building exiting relationships versus hunting for new clients, in your last post. Why?
Depending on the role you seek your Sales force to focus on, will determine whether this person is more of a Farmer or Hunter. In truth, the professional should be able to adapt to either role as both are vital to sales performance.
- When investigating, what typical questions would you ask a Prospects to reveal their pain point?
the Professional will share the open-ended questions required to unearth a pain point through getting their Prospect to open up & talk. Most salespeople talk too much.
- How do you go about handling Customer objections?
Most salespeople get defensive & don’t realize that objections are a good thing as they express interest to learn more. In most instances there are common objections which a sales Professional will prepare for in advance. Listen out for evidence of a process.
- What role does social media play in your selling process?
As social media becomes more & more prevalent, a professional will make frequent use of google to research or LinkedIn to share. If the candidate has not used social channels to research prospects or look for leads in the past, it is unlikely they will do so for you either.
- How do you research prospects before a call or meeting?
Neglecting to use LinkedIn to research clients is not a viable option in today’s sales environment. Ensure that candidates are searching for personal commonalities in addition to professional information so they can tailor communication as much as possible. Looking into company trigger events is the sign of a real Professional.
- If you were hired for this position, what would you do in your first month?
The old adage, “you can take a horse to water” applies here. You may have an active orientation process in bringing a new Hire up to speed, but ultimately it is the candidate who should have an action plan to get started. This answer will show how much of a self-starter they are.
- What do you think our company/sales organization could do better?
This sales interview question serves two purposes: it shows how much research the Candidate has done, prior to the interview, plus demonstrates their creative thinking & entrepreneurial capabilities.
- What have you learnt about sales recently?
This question helps you identify how hungry for new skills & better selling strategies the Candidate is. The true sales Professional is always learning & going out of their way to be better. It should be a never-ending process of self-development.
- what do you do after a call?
This question indicates their sense of reasoning & self-analysis. while the regular salesperson will simply shut down their mind & move on to the next call, the Professional self crits their performance. what could they have done better, what will I do differently next call?
- What do you do before the next call?
This question is aimed at identifying the Candidates preparation process. calling with no plan is merely an insult to a Customer & damages your company’s image. Of course, they should have prepared before starting the day, but arriving at a new call, a quick check on the call objective & that they have all the tools needed to a valued, professional visit.
Look out for the next 3 sections
Coming up:-
section 2: Customer assessment ability
section 3: understanding the sales process
section 4: passion & fit to your business
Of course, you can save yourself all this stress & just call BizGro, the sales placement specialists.
We follow the whole process for you & present only right-fit Sales Professionals for your consideration.
With BizGro….
NO hefty up-front recruitment fees!
NO hidden costs!
Just the best, for less!
Need help? Just mail us.
